Atari Games
Atari Games Corporation was an American producer of arcade games. It was originally the coin-operated arcade game division of Atari, Inc. and was split off into its own company in 1984. History When the Atari Inc. division of Warner Communications lost $500 million in the first three quarters of 1983, its arcade coin-op division was the only one to make money. In 1984 Warner sold the Atari Consumer division of Atari Inc. (which included the video game divisions) to Jack Tramiel (who named his company Atari Corporation), but retained the arcade coin-op division (Atari Coin), renaming it "Atari Games". The agreement between Tramiel and Warner Communications was that Atari Games must always include the "Games" after "Atari" on its logo and that Atari Games could not use the Atari brand at all in the consumer market (computers and home consoles). Atari Games retained most of the same employees and managers that had worked at the old Atari Inc. It was able to carry on with many of its projects from before the transition. Atari Corp., in contrast, froze projects and streamlined staff and operations. In 1985, the controlling interest of Atari Games was sold to Namco, who soon lost interest in operating an American subsidiary. In 1986 a group of employees bought Namco's share. Atari Games continued to manufacture arcade games and units, and starting in 1987, also sold cartridges for the Nintendo Entertainment System under the Tengen brand name, including a version of Tetris. The companies exchanged a number of lawsuits in the late 1980s related to disputes over the rights to Tetris and Tengen's circumvention of Nintendo's lockout chip, which prevented third parties from creating unauthorized games. (Atari Games' legal battles with Nintendo should not be confused with those of its former parent company—Atari also exchanged lawsuits with Nintendo in the late 1980s and early 1990s.) The suit finally reached a settlement in 1994, with Atari Games paying Nintendo cash damages and use of several patent licenses. In 1989, Warner Communications merged with Time Inc., forming Time Warner. In 1993, Time Warner bought a controlling interest in Atari Games and made it a subsidiary of its Time Warner Interactive division. While Atari Games maintained its identity under the new ownership, its consumer division Tengen, on the other hand, had been removed from the map in favor of the Time Warner Interactive label. In mid-1994 Atari Games, Tengen, and Time Warner Interactive Group were all consolidated as Time Warner Interactive. In April 1996, after an unsuccessful bid by Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, Atari Games was sold to WMS Industries (owners of the Williams, and Bally/Midway arcade brands). When Hasbro Interactive bought the remains of Atari Corporation, the console manufacturer, and resurrected the Atari name in the home software arena starting in late 1998, Atari Games was renamed Midway Games West by parent company Midway Games to avoid confusing two Atari brands shortly after the release of San Francisco Rush 2049 in late 1999. Midway left the arcade market to concentrate on home systems in 2001, ending at the same time Atari Games' influence in the arcade industry. Midway Games West produced games for home systems, but was disbanded by Midway in early 2003 after a slump in game sales, ending the existence of Atari Games. Until 2009, Midway Games West still existed as a holding entity whose primary function was to be the copyright and trademark owner for its franchises. In July 2009, all of the intellectual property of Midway was sold to Warner Bros. Entertainment, ultimately bringing the Atari Games properties and history back to Warner one final time. However, the entity still existed for legal reasons until October 2, 2013 when it was dissolved. Arcade games developed by Atari Games *''720°'' *''A.P.B.'' *''Area 51'' *''Area 51: Site 4'' *''Badlands'' *''Batman'' *''Blasteroids'' *''California Speed'' *''Championship Sprint'' *''COPS'' *''Cyberball'' *''Cyberball 2072'' *''Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters'' *''Gauntlet'' *''Gauntlet II'' *''Gauntlet Legends'' *''Guardians of the 'Hood'' *''Hard Drivin''' *''Hydra'' *''Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'' *''Klax'' *''Marble Madness'' *''Maximum Force'' *''Moto Frenzy'' *''Off the Wall'' *''Paperboy'' *''Peter Pack Rat'' *''Pit-Fighter'' *''Primal Rage'' *''[[Qwak! (arcade game)|''Qwak!]] *Atari R.B.I. Baseball *''Race Drivin''' *''Radikal Bikers'' *''Rampart'' *''Relief Pitcher'' *''RoadBlasters'' *''Road Burners'' *''Road Riot 4WD'' *''Road Runner'' *''S.T.U.N. Runner'' *''San Francisco Rush: Extreme Racing'' *''San Francisco Rush: The Rock'' *''San Francisco Rush 2049'' *''Shuuz'' *''Skull & Crossbones'' *''Space Lords'' *''Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back'' *''Steel Talons'' *''Super Sprint'' *''T-Mek'' *''Tetris'' *''ThunderJaws'' *''Toobin''' *''Tournament Cyberball 2072'' *''Vapor TRX'' *''Vindicators'' *''Vindicators Part II'' *''War Final Assault'' *''Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey'' *''Xybots'' Unreleased prototypes *''Accelerator'' *''Arcade Classics'' *''Beat Head'' *''Beavis & Butthead'' *''BMX Heat'' * Bloodlust IK3 *''Cyberstorm'' *''Danger Express'' *''Freeze'' *''Guts and Glory'' *''Hard Drivin's Airborne'' *''Hot Rod Rebels'' *''Marble Man: Marble Madness II'' *''Mace: The Dark Age'' *''Metal Maniax'' *''Meanstreak'' *''Primal Rage II'' *''Road Riot's Revenge Rally'' *''Sparkz'' *''Street Drivin''' *''Subs'' *''Vicious Circle'' Notes References External links * (from the Internet Archives Wayback Machine) *Atari Games Museum. *A History of Atari Games Corp. / Midway Games West Category:Companies Category:Atari Category:Defunct video game companies Category:Video game companies of the United States Category:Video game companies based in California * Category:Video game development companies Category:Video game publishers Category:Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Category:Companies based in Milpitas, California Category:Video game companies established in 1984 Category:Video game companies disestablished in 2003 Category:1984 establishments in California Category:2003 disestablishments in California Category:Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Category:Companies established in 1984 Category:Companies disestablished in 2003